Bristol Speedway unveils plan for Vols-Hokies game

From left, Virginia Tech head football coach Frank Beamer, Virginia Tech athletic director Jim Weaver, Marcus Smith, president of Speedway Motorsports, Jerry Caldwell, general manager of Bristol Motor Speedway, Tennessee athletic director, Dave Hart, and Tennessee head football coach Butch Jones pose after a press conference at Bristol Motor Speedway Monday, Oct. 14, 2013, in Bristol, Tenn. Tennessee and Virginia Tech will finally play a football game at Bristol Motor Speedway in what is being
— AP

From left, Virginia Tech head football coach Frank Beamer, Virginia Tech athletic director Jim Weaver, Marcus Smith, president of Speedway Motorsports, Jerry Caldwell, general manager of Bristol Motor Speedway, Tennessee athletic director, Dave Hart, and Tennessee head football coach Butch Jones pose after a press conference at Bristol Motor Speedway Monday, Oct. 14, 2013, in Bristol, Tenn. Tennessee and Virginia Tech will finally play a football game at Bristol Motor Speedway in what is being
/ AP

To accommodate a football field, the speedway will need modifications, some of which will happen as soon as next year, Caldwell said. A massive video board that sits atop a pylon in the middle of the infield will be taken out, Caldwell said.

"Screens will be added inside the facility so everyone can still see everything," he said.

Bristol is scheduled to host NASCAR races just two weeks before this football game. Only until after that's complete can the football field be installed, with 8,500 tons of rock as its base.

Then there is the matter of fans in the stands being close enough to the field to be able to tell what is going on down there. Tennessee's Neyland Stadium, which holds more than 102,000, would fit inside Bristol Motor Speedway.

"It's not a football stadium so it's going to be a bit different, but I think you'll see that the sight lines are great and are going to be very similar to what you would see in a college football program maybe within 10 to 20 yards from where you would be in a football stadium," Caldwell said.

There also were logistical issues involving the schools.

Tennessee had been scheduled to play Nebraska in 2016 as part of a home-and-home series that has now been pushed back to 2026 and 2027.

All those hurdles help explain why this game took so many years to become reality.

"There was a collective willingness to prioritize this and make it happen," Hart said. "It wasn't an easy trip that we took. There were times you said, `Well, no wonder this has never happened.' But we got through those rough spots and this is a great day."